Toy Review: Lego Pirate Captain Keychain

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Flat yet fun Lego figure

Cons: None

The Bottom Line:

Are your keys boring?

Lego Pirates add some fun

For kid in all.  Argh!

Ahoy Thar, Matey.  I Be Guarding These Keys Like They Were a Treasure

I haven't played with or thought about Legos in years.  But I recently saw a Lego keychain that my sister-in-law had.  After turning green with envy, I investigated on line and discovered that there are several dozen of these things that Lego has made.  While I set out to get one of them, I wound up buying the Lego Pirate Captain Keychain in addition to the one I additionally wanted.

The captain is dressed mainly in black.  It starts with his hat, which has a traditional skull and crossbones on the front.  His main body is black with painting on it designed to make it look like a jacket.  You can even see a little of his white shirt underneath, and a buckle painted on the back.

This poor pirate has seen his fair share of fights, obviously.  His right leg is a peg leg, his left hand is a hook, and his left eye is covered by a patch.  While we're on the subject of his face, he's got a nice red beard and a bit of a grimace on his face.

After I got him, I got to wondering if it would really be wise or if he'd be an uncomfortable addition to my pocket.  Honestly, I haven't noticed he's there.  He's only a couple of inches long and maybe half an inch wide.  He's very streamlined, so there isn't anything poking out to stab you.

He looks just like the Lego figures I remember playing with as a boy.  His good hand and both his feet even look like they would fit onto normal Lego pieces, but I don't know if that is true since I don't have any Lego's to try it with.  One important difference is that all the pieces are permanently connected together.  That's great, since he would probably fall apart in my pocket otherwise.

But that doesn't mean he won't move.  His hat spins around completely.  In fact, it seems to spend more time backwards that forwards.  His arms and legs are posable.  I've got to admit, I have fun playing with them in my pocket at times, although I always make him flat again so he doesn't stab me.

The ring part of the key ring is attached to the top of his hat.  It seems sturdy enough that it's not going to come out any time soon.  The ring itself is flat, so it's a little harder to get it on the rest of your keyring (or to add keys to it), but it is doable.  The ring also makes him top heavy.  If you balance things just right, he will stand up on his own, but most of the time the key ring pulls him one direction or the other.

My key ring was getting rather boring with just my keys on it.  I'm glad I got the Lego Pirate to enliven things again.